Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, July 27, 2008

Packer had spent decades fighting fire in the dry, rugged mountains of the Northwest. He often took leave from his job as chief of a Bonney Lake-area fire department to serve on a disaster response team tasked with controlling the stubborn blazes that flare up each summer.

Over the weekend, though, the too-often-deadly combination of fast fire and shifting winds took Packer's life at a Northern California fire. The Lake Tapps resident was 49.

Packer was reported missing and presumed dead Saturday afternoon, the day after he was deployed to a 250-acre forest fire burning in Siskiyou County. The incident occurred the day after an 18-year-old firefighter based with Olympic National Park was killed fighting a separate fire in Northern California.

Chief of East Pierce Fire and Rescue, Packer was supervising firefighting efforts in the area in California as a member of an interagency emergency management team battling the blaze. His position was overrun by a wildfire following an unexpected shift in the wind, according to a statement issued by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

A former president of the Association of Washington Fire Chiefs, Packer was serving at the Panther fire south of Happy Camp. The fire is part of the Siskiyou Complex fire near Yreka, which has burned more than 54,000 acres.

A July 21 lightning strike sparked the Panther fire, which has moved into heavy timber near the Klamath River and a nearby creek.

Firefighters were pulled off of the fire following the incident, said Davida Carnahan, spokeswoman for the Klamath National Forest, where the fire is burning.

"Following this accident, we pulled everybody off," Carnahan said. "We have not been able to retrieve the remains, because the fire is too unstable to get in there."

A ground crew was standing by Sunday evening to recover Packer's body if conditions permitted, a Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said in a statement. The intensity of the fire and poor visibility were hampering recovery efforts.

Another firefighter in the area was able to flee on foot, Carnahan said. It wasn't clear whether the man was injured, but he declined medical attention after the incident.

An accident investigation team was on its way to the area Sunday. Carnahan declined to comment on the cause of the fatality until that investigation is complete.

The incident came hours after Olympic National Park firefighter Andrew Palmer was killed by a falling tree while fighting the Eagle fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Gregoire praised both men, asking "all Washingtonians to keep the families and fire departments of these brave men in their thoughts and prayers."

"When called, they stepped up to help our neighbors in California," Gregoire said. "They gave their lives doing the hard, heroic work of protecting the lives of others."

At the East Pierce Fire and Rescue Battalion, Packer had developed an in-house wildfire fighting team, Battalion Chief Russ McCallion said. The team responds to fires in the more than 4,500 acres of undeveloped land within the coverage area, as well as fires around the state.

"He was a veteran wildland firefighter," McCallion said. "Dan took that experience and helped develop our own wildland firefighting team."

Palmer, a Port Townsend resident, died Friday during his unit's first day on the fire line. Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin praised Palmer as a "dedicated and energetic firefighter who loved his job."

"We are all very sad," Gustin said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with his family and the rest of the firefighters on this fire."

On Sunday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger offered his condolences to Palmer's family. Palmer, Schwarzenegger said in a statement, "lost his life while selflessly protecting our communities, and Californians are forever indebted to his heroic service and sacrifice."